Ian Thorpe’s Fountain for Youth

Fountain for youth is a non-profit charitable organisation and was established for the purpose of the alleviation and treatment of illness and disease in children (under the age of 20years)

Our major focus is on improving health and education outcomes for Indigenous children in remote regions in Australia

We are supporting a Litereacy Project with the Jawoyn communities east of Katherine (funded by the Federal Government until the end of 2007). Ian Thorpe's Fountain for youth has made a long term committment to the communities and the children to continue our support well past 2007 and will continue to seek support to susutain the projects.

We recognise that that education is a crucial pathway to better health which in return will provide greater opporunities for the youth in future

years to come. The Literacy Project focuses on literacy, health, art and cultural education providing opportunities for the children to work

closely with their teachers, family and elders of the communities to develop their skills on an educational and personal level.

We are supporting the development of an Arts and Cultural Education Centre at Wugularr. The Art and Cultural Education Centre is a local

Aboriginal initiative to develop the artistic ability of their children and showcase the work of outstanding artists from the region.

With the great effort now underway to improve education, nutrition and the general well being of the children in this region the Art and Cultural

Education Centre can be another strong platform for a brighter future for these communities.

Fountain for youth also supports the ongoing research into the causes of Rett Syndrome, we are funding a research assistant's position for the next three years.